Armenia's Agricultural Sector: From the Subsistence Line to Discrete Take-Off?

Abstract

This contribution discusses the overall lay-out and (re-) orientation of Armenia's agricultural sector since it decreased to subsistence levels and a virtual standstill in the early 1990s. Promising due to both a set of favorable, natural-physical conditions and agricultural traditions, part of which survived Soviet agricultural policies and the country's "transition" and integration in the world economy following its collapse. Armenia's agriculture and agro-industry have had a timid resurgence in the past few years. Driven by the emergence of small and medium-sized farms and the regionalization of a number of primary sector activities and the presence of markets in Russia and the Persian-Arab Gulf, the potential of Armenia's agriculture remains stunted, however, by the country's land-locked position and the border blockades that have been in effect since the Nagorno-Karabakh War, both of which are obstacles for proper agricultural exports.